Automatic railway car journal oiler

ABSTRACT

A railway car journal box oiler has a vertically retractable nozzle mounted on a horizontally reciprocable platform, movement of which with the car is caused by engagement of a car wheel with a vertically retractable roller moved to an upper position by a solenoid when the approach of an open journal box is sensed by a photocell. The roller and nozzle automatically retract after a predetermined amount of movement of the platform with the car. The nozzle is automatically moved to an upper, operative position as the platform starts to move and ejection of oil from the nozzle is in timed relationship with nozzle movement.

United States Patent Inventors William Bowler Pierrefonds; Raymond E.Kalita, Dollard des Ormeaux, both of Quebec, Canada App]. N111 807,880

Filed Mar. 17, I969 Pale/Hm) A! I7, 197' heeign amullnn National[hallway ('nmpuny Montreal. Quebe mmdn Priority Feb. 12. I969 CanadaAUTOMATIC RAILWAY CAR JOURNAL OILER 8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl. .l Int. Cl.

Field of Search EXHAUS J7 Fl6n 1/00 l84/3,3A, 2,15,15A

X HAUS 7 B ASPYRA I ION References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,203,5048/1965 Bryant .1 184/2 3,353,630 11/1967 Wooretal. 184/15x 3,375,9024/1968 Perry 184/2 3,425,513 2/1969 Fisheretal. l84/l5X 4,456,758 7/1969Garner 184/2 I'nmury lzxamim'r Manuel A. Antonakas A!mrney-Fetherstonhaugh and Co.

ABSTRACT: A railway car journal box oiler has a vertically retractablenozzle mounted on a horizontally reciprocable platform, movement ofwhich with the car is caused by engagement of a car wheel with avertically retractable roller moved to an upper position by a solenoidwhen the approach of an open journal box is sensed by a photocell. Theroller and nozzle automatically retract after a predetermined amount ofmovement of the platform with the car. The nozzle is automatically movedto an upper, operative position as the platform starts to move andejection of oil from the nozzle is in timed relationship with nozzlemovement.

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finish 0 x 311% r MN mN mm R Q NM FY AUTOMATIC RAILWAY CAR JOURNAL OILERBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is common practice in railway systems toemploy journal box inspectors to ascertain if the journal boxes on therolling stock have sufficient oil in the boxes to lubricate the axlejournals. When a train enters a station or marshalling yard theinspectors, when the train is stationary, open and inspect the journalboxes. If the oil is low in a journal box the inspector leaves thejournal box lid open to indicate to the oiler that that journal boxrequires oil.

Automatic oilers for railway car journal boxes have been proposed thatare adapted to be fixedly mounted adjacent the respective rails ofrailway lines. In this type of installation the quota of oil beingsquirted into the boxes must travel at a high velocity and in the formof a slug because the railway car is moving at from two to three milesper hour and the target area is relatively small thereby limiting theduration of delivery to a fraction of a second. Furthermore the deliveryof the oil at high velocity and in spash back form causes it to impingeon the end of the axle and journal with considerably force, which maycause the oil to splash-back out of the journal box with an attendantloss of oil and inefficient lubrication of the journal.

An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic journalbox oiler adapted to sense an open journal box when the cars are inmotion and to travel for a certain period of time with the open journalbox to allow for ample oiling time.

A further object of the invention is to provide a journal box oiler thatwill deliver to an open journal box a measured quantity of oil with aminimum of splash back Another object is to provide a journal box oilerin which the oiling nozzle is retracted when not in use to avoidinterference with projecting equipment such as ladders fitted onlocomotives.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF TI -IE INVENTION The invention may be defined asapparatus for oiling railway vehicle journal boxes comprising a movableplatform, a roller mounted on said platform, means responsive to theapproach of an open journal box for moving said roller from a retractedposition to a projected position in which it will be engaged by arailroad car wheel associated with said open journal box to effecttranslational movement of said platform with said wheel, nozzle meansmounted on said platform, means initially responsive to saidtranslational movement of the platform for moving said nozzles meansform an inoperative, retracted position to an operative, projectedposition in which it squirts oil into said journal box, and meanssubsequently responsive to said translational movement of said platformfor effecting retraction of said roller and return of said platform toits initial position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An embodiment of the invention willnow be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the oiling apparatus,

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the apparatus showing the oiler andwheel-engaging member in operative position,

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the apparatus showing the oiling mechanismand wheel-engaging member in operative position,

FIG. 4 is an end elevation as viewed from the left of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3,

FIG. 5 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 5 -S of FIG. 2 showingthe wheel-engaging member at the limit of its travel and about to becomedisengaged from the car wheel, and

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic drawing, showing the actuating mechanism inconjunction with the pneumatic and oil control circuits.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT In the drawings the apparatusconsists of a baseplate 20, adapted to be secured adjacent the rails ofa railway-track, and a platform 21. The platform 21 is provided withsleeved blocks 22 adapted to slide on a guide rail 23 supported abovethe baseplate 20 by pillow-blocks 24. The opposite side of the platform21 is provided with hangers 25 upon which there are rotatably securedrollers 26 adapted to roll within a trackway 27 secured to saidbaseplate 20. A shaft means 28, rotatably mounted in bearing blocks 29,secured to platform 21, has flexibly secured thereon by means of aresilient rubber cushion a lever arm 30 upon which there is rotatablymounted a roller 31. The roller 31 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 5,extends outwardly beyond the left-hand end of platform 21 and rests upona beam 32. The beam 32 is pivotally supported at its right-hand end on ashaft 33 supported in bearing blocks 34. The left-hand end of the beam32 rests upon a ledge 35 formed in a latch member 36. The latch member36, see FIGS. 1, 3 and 5, is pivotally mounted in a bracket 37 by ashaft 38.

'The latch 36 is urged into beam-engaging position by a spring 39between the back of the bracket and the lower end of the latch member36. The forward travel of the latch towards the beam 32, is limited byshoulder 40 which bears against the baseplate 20 so that the latch willnot bind against the end of beam 32. The shaft means 28 consists of ashaft 28 a and a shaft 28 b The shaft 28 b is rotatably supported in abore formed in the shaft 28 a The shafts 28a and 28 b are interconnectedby a two part coupling 41.'The outer end of shaft 28 b has securedthereon a lever arm 42 to which there is rotatably secured a roller 43which is adapted to contact the portion of the car wheel W that projectsbeyond the outside of the railway track. The shaft 28 b has securedthereon a lever arm 44 which is pivotally connected to a shaft 45 by aclevis 46. The shaft 45 extends toward the right of FIG. 2 and isconnected to the armature 47 of a solenoid 48. The shaft 45 and armature47 are also provided with a yieldable shock-absorb ing connecting spring49. In the inoperative position the roller 43 is in the depressedposition and is below the level of the rail. When, however, the solenoid48 is energized, the armature 47 is drawn into the solenoid coil wherebythe lever arm 42 and the roller 43 mounted thereon are raised until ajaw formed on the portion of the coupling secured to shaft 28 6 contactsa jaw formed on the portion of the coupling secured to shaft 28 a,locking the roller 43 in its upright position in the path of the wheeltread which contacts said roller 43 and pushes it and the platform 21 inthe direction of travel of the car. When the platform 21 is set inmotion, a roller 50, rotatably secured to lever arm 51, contacts a camtrack 52 which cams it upwardly, causing lever arm 51 and attachedsleeve 53 to rotate on shaft 54. The sleeve 53 has formed thereon astraight tooth positive coupling member 55a which couples with astraight tooth positive coupling member 55b formed on sleeve 56. Betweenthe tooth formed on the coupling member 55a and that formed on member55b there is provided a predetermined clearance in order to permit theroller 50 and the lever arm 51 to travel down the perpendicular surfaces52a of cam track 52 without applying a bendingmoment on lever arm 58which is press-fitted on shaft 54 rotatably mounted in pillow blocks 57.When the platform 21 is set in motion by contact of the car wheel treadwith roller 43 the roller 50 is forced towards the right by cam track52, rotating lever 51 upwards and thereby elevating lever arm 58 andbringing nozzle 75 attached thereto into alignment with the opening inthe journal box.

Referring to FIG. 6, wherein the oiling apparatus is showndiagrammatically, the raising of roller 43 is triggered by aphotoelectric cell 64 which receives a beam of light from a light source65 by reflection from the end of axle 66, exposed by the open journalbox cover. The signal from cell 64 is received by means within theelectronic control 67, known to the art, that closes a switch toenergize solenoid 48,. The armature 47 exerts a pull on shaft 45 andlever arm 44, rotating shaft 28b and raising wheel-engaging roller 43into a position adapted to engage the tread of a car wheel. The carwheel, as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 rotates roller 43 and at the sametime carries it, and the platform 21 attached thereto, forward. Theforward movement of the platform causes the roller 50 to ride up camtrack 52, rotating lever arm 51 upwardly and imparting rotation tosleeve 53 and coupling member 55a formed thereon, bringing the latterinto engagement with coupling member 55 b to rotate lever 58 into anupright position. The rotation of lever 58 upwardly exerts a force onpin 60, causing the standard 59 to pivot on pin 70 held captive by link61. As the platform 21 moves, towards the left on the drawings, theleading edge of the platform engages and depresses a switch 71, mountedon trackway 27. The closing of switch 71 energizes solenoid-operatedvalve 72, opening said valve to permit air to flow into and operatevalves 73 and 74 whereby oil and air, respectively, are permitted toflow through conduits 75a and 75b connected to said valves and through aspray head 75 secured to standard 59, which spray head squirts nebulizedoil into the journal box 76. When the switch 71 is tripped, a timer, notshown, forming part of the electronic control 67, is set in motion totime the duration of the oil flow into the journal box 76.

The forward travel of platform 21 carries roller 31 forward until itcontacts latch member 36, forcing said latch towards the left of FIGS.1, 2, 3 and 5 thereby forcing the ledge 35 from under the lip of beam32. The forward component of force exerted by the car wheel W on roller43 causes the leverarm 42 to rotate shaft 28b This inturn rotatescoupling 41 and shaft 28a which has secured thereto lever-arm 30.Rotation of the lever-arm 30 forces roller 31 to rotate in a downwarddirection, displacing beam 32 in a downward direction, so that roller 43may be depressed sufficiently to permit the tread of the car-wheel toroll over it. The platform 21 thus no longer travels with the wheel andthe photocell 64 is, therefore, no longer energized. Just prior to thistime, roller 50 comes to the end of cam 52 allowing assembly 58, 59, and75 to come to a retracted position on platform 21 such that as theplatform returns to the starting position there is less chance of damageto the oil-delivering assembly (58, 59 and 75). As the platform movessufficiently forward, such that roller 31 is about to engage 36, theplatform engages another switch 90 mounted on trackway 27 which iselectrically in series with the solenoid 48. The contacts of the switchare normally closed, become open upon contact with the platform and thusrelease the solenoid. The downward displacement of beam 32 depressesspring 77 and at the same time actuates pilot valve 78. Actuation ofpilot valve 78 permits air to flow into piston-and-cylinder 79 which hasits piston rod 80 attached to platform 21 at 81 and the cylinder portion82 to bracket 83 secured on base 20. Retraction of thepiston-andcylinder 79 moves platform 21 to the right. The travel of theplatform 21 towards the right of the drawings, is terminated when thebeam 32 releases pilot valve 78 thereby interrupting the flow of air tothe cylinder 82. The momentum of the platform towards its initialposition of rest is dissipated by impingement of shaft 84, which is onthe end of the platform, upon the enlarged end member 86 attached topiston rod 87 of spring cushioned shock absorber 88. As soon as the carwheel has passed beyond roller 43 the beam 32, which is free of the loadimposed on it by the wheel pushing on assembly 30, 31, 42 and 43, ispushed back up by the spring 77 to its normal horizontal position. Thelatch member 36, when the lip of the beam has reached the predeterminedposition, is urged into engagement therewith by spring 39. The travel ofthe platform 21 towards the right of FlGS. 1 and 2 also carries theroller 50 and lever arm 51 back along cam track 52 until the roller 50passes beyond the horizontal portion thereof and down the perpendicularportion 520. The downward travel of the roller 50 on surface 520 permitsspring urged sleeve 53 to rotate and carry lever arm 58 downward to restupon platform 21. Standard 59 also rotates down and reclines upon leverarm 58.

We claim:

1 Apparatus for oiling railway vehicle journal boxes comprising aplatform movable in a direction substantially parallel to the directionof movement of the said railway vehicle, a roller mounted on saidplatform, means responsive to the approach of an open journal box formoving said roller from a retracted position to a projected position inwhich it will be engaged by a railroad car wheel associated with saidopen journal box to effect translational movement of said platform withsaid wheel, nozzle means mounted on said platform, means initiallyresponsive to said translation movement of the platform for moving saidnozzle means from an inoperative, retracted position to an operative,projected position in which it squirts oil into said journal box, saidnozzle being mounted to move in a plane substantially parallel to thesaid direction of movement of the railway vehicle between said retractedand said projected positions and means subsequently responsive to saidtranslational movement of said platform for effecting retraction of saidroller and return of said platform to its initial position, said meansinitially responsive to the translational movement of the platformcomprising a roller, connnected with said nozzle means and movable withthe platform and a cam track fixed with respect to a stationary surfacesuch that the platform and the roller move together relative to the camtrack, said cam track being positioned to be engaged by said roller assaid platform commences its translational movement, such that saidroller is cammed upward and said nozzle means is projected intooperative position.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first-mentioned meanscomprise a solenoid and means for sensing the end of an axle in an openjournal box and passing a signal to said solenoid to actuate the latter.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including means responsive totranslational movement of the platform to effect feed of oil to saidnozzle means and further including timer means adapted to interrupt thefeed of oil to said nozzle means after a predetermined time interval.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said nozzle means includes anozzle assembly connecting the nozzle outlet and the platform, saidassembly arranged to lie generally adjacent to and parallel to theplatform in the inoperative position, and to be raised to said operativeposition.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, said nozzle assembly including aset of levers extending from the platform to the nozzle outlet, saidlevers being movable about an axis substantially perpendicular to thedirection of movement of the railway car for moving the nozzle meansbetween the operative and the inoperative positions.

6. Apparatus for oiling railway vehicle journal boxes comprising amovable platform, a roller mounted on said platform, means responsive tothe approach of an open journal box for moving said roller from aretracted position to a projected position in which it will be engagedby a railroad car wheel associated with said open journal box to effecttranslational movement of said platform with said wheel, nozzle meansmounted on said platform, means initially responsive to saidtranslational movement ofthe platform for moving said nozzle means froman inoperative, retracted position to an operative, projected positionin which it squirts oil into said journal box, and means subsequentlyresponsive to said translational movement of said platform for effectingretraction of said roller and return of said platform to its initialposition, said means subsequently responsive to the translationalmovement of the platform including a beam pivotally mounted at one end,means biasing the other end of said beam to an upper position, a latch,means biassing said latch to a position in which it holds said other endof said beam in said upper position, a roller mounted on said platformto roll on said beam and connected 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6,further including a valve actuated by said bean as it moves downwardly,and a pressure fluid circuit controlled by actuation of said valve toeffect return of said platform to its initial position.

8. Apparatus for oiling railway vehicle journal boxes comprising amovable platform, a roller mounted on said platform, means responsive tothe approach of an open journal box for moving said roller from aretracted position to a projected position in which it will be engagedby a railroad car wheel associated with said open journal box to effecttranslational movement of said platform with said wheel, nozzle meansmounted on said platform, means initially responsive to saidtranslational movement of the platform for moving said nozzle means froman inoperative, retracted position to an operative projected position inwhich it squirts oil into said journal box, and means subsequentlyresponsive to said translational movement of said platform for effectingretraction of said roller and return of said platform to its initialposition, said means and movable with the platform and a cam track fixedwith respect to a stationary surface such that the platform and theroller move together relative to the cam track, said cam track beingpositioned to be engaged by said roller as said platform commences itstranslational movement, whereby said roller is cammed upwards and saidnozzle means is projected into the operable position.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first-mentioned meanscomprise a solenoid and means for sensing the end of an axle in an openjournal box and passing a signal to said solenoid to actuate the latter.3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including means responsive totranslational movement of the platform to effect feed of oil to saidnozzle means and further including timer means adapted to interrupt thefeed of oil to said nozzle means after a predetermined time interval. 4.Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said nozzle means includes anozzle assembly connecting the nozzle outlet and the platform, saidassembly arranged to lie generally adjacent to and parallel to theplatform in the inoperative position, and to be raised to said operativeposition.
 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, said nozzle assemblyincluding a set of levers extending from the platform to the nozzleoutlet, said levers being movable about an axis substantiallyperpendicular to the direction of movement of the railway car for movingthe nozzle means between the operative and the inoperative positions. 6.Apparatus for oiling railway vehicle journal boxes comprising a movableplatform, a roller mounted on said platform, means responsive to theapproach of an open journal box for moving said roller from a retractedposition to a projected position in which it will be engaged by arailroad car wheel associated with said open journal box to effecttranslational movement of said platform with said wheel, nozzle meansmounted on said platform, means initially responsive to saidtranslational movement of the platform for moving said nozzle means froman inoperative, retracted position to an operative, projected positionin which it squirts oil into said journal box, and means subsequentlyresponsive to said translational movement of said platform for effectingretraction of said roller and return of said platform to its initialposition, said means subsequently responsive to the translationalmovement of the platform including a beam pivotally mounted at one end,means biasing the other end of said beam to an upper position, a latch,means biassing said latch to a position in which it holds said other endof said beam in said upper position, a roller mounted on said platformto roll on said beam and connected with said wheel-engaging roller so asto hold the latter in projected position while said beam end is in saidlatch after said platform has been moved a predetermined distance,whereby said beam is free to be moved downwardly and said rollers canalso move downwardly to free the wheel-engaging roller from the carwheel.
 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, further including a valveactuated by said bean as it moves downwardly, and a pressure fluidcircuit controlled by actuation of said valve to effect return of saidplatform to its initial position.
 8. Apparatus for oiling railwayvehicle journal boxes comprising a movable platform, a roller mounted onsaid platform, means responsive to the approach of an open journal boxfor moving said roller from a retracted position to a projected positionin which it will be engaged by a railroad car wheel associated with saidopen journal box to effect translational movement of said platform withsaid wheel, nozzle means mounted on said platform, means initiallyresponsive to said translational movement of the platform for movingsaid nozzle means from an inoperative, retracted position to anoperative projected position in which it squirts oil into said journalbox, and means subsequently responsive to said translational movement ofsaid platform for effecting retraction of said roller and return of saidplatform to its initial position, said means and movable with theplatform and a cam track fixed with respect to a stationary surface suchthat the platform and the roller move together relative to the camtrack, said cam track being positioned to be engaged by said roller assaid platform commences its translational movement, whereby said rolleris cammed upwards and said nozzle means is projected into the operableposition.